Witness Interview Allegedly Implicates Former President In Trump Organization Investigation
The New York criminal investigation into The Trump Organization may be getting closer to former President Donald Trump.
Jennifer Weisselberg, the former daughter-in-law of indicted Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, told prosecutors that Trump personally offered to pay for things like private school fees and rent for luxury apartments instead of raising the salaries of Weisselberg and his son Barry, Jennifer's ex-husband, The Daily Beast reports.
The alleged conversation took place in 2012, with all three Weisselbergs in the room, The Daily Beast reports. The witness statement is in line with court documents from divorce proceedings between Barry and Jennifer in 2018, claiming that Trump paid more than $50K per year for the couple's children to attend Columbia Grammar and Preparatory Academy.
Statements from Barry Weisselberg in those divorce proceedings also detailed how his father covered the cost of an apartment on the exclusive street Central Park South in Manhattan and later another unit on the borough's Upper East Side while the son's salary remained flat for years, the Daily Beast reports. Those statements were part of the case that the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. made against Allen Weisselberg that led to his indictment at the end of June.
Vance's office is collaborating with that of New York State Attorney General Letitia James in a criminal investigation of the Trump family business that the two prosecutors say is ongoing. The investigation has also been looking into the company's alleged practice of overstating the value of its properties for the purpose of getting loans while understating the same properties' value in tax documents.
The Trump Organization was also hit with criminal charges along with its CFO, but no member of the Trump family has been officially charged. The former president may be in hot water of a different kind if his company's legal troubles affect its relationship with lenders — he has personally guaranteed as much as $421M worth of loans against Trump properties.
